Simulationism...

Jeff Koons, Inflatable Flower (Tall Yellow, Tall Orange) 1979

Peter Halley, Panic Room 2002

...Simulationism is the theory that "we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation", developed by Professor Nick Bostrom of Oxford University and published in Philosophy Quarterly in 2003. According to the guy, because sometime in the near future we are likely to be capable of creating a virtual world with sentient, autonomous beings, it's more than likely that we are, ourselves, products of a virtual world created by other beings. Here's a short summary.

Simulationism is also, as most 'isms' are, an art movement - or was. It was short-lived, apparently inspired by Baudrillard, and was fashionable in the mid-to-late 1980s in New York, revolving around artists such as Peter Halley, Shirley Levine and later on Jeff Koons (top), amongst others. It's all about admitting, cynically but also kind of innocently, that the world is only surface - therefore, why not have fun? - although I think the three above-mentioned artists all attempt to effect a critique through parody. E.g. Peter Halley (above) describes his creations on his website as "geometric paintings...engaged in a play of relationships between..."prisons" and "cells", icons that reflect the increasing geometricisation of social space in the world in which we live."

Speaking of which, here is a quote from Baudrillard on a rant:

"Art is never the mechanical reflection of the positive or negative condition of the world; it is its exacerbated illusion or hyperbolc mirror. In a worl ruled by indifference, art can only add to this indifference, by focussing the void of the image."

Not exactly my cup of tea, really...rather than tea it is maybe food for thought? Anyway there are mirrors in it.